Turkish Language - The Demonstrative

Pronouns
The Suffixed Forms of the DemonstrativesAbout Turkish
demonstrative pronouns and adjectivesTurkish has two words for that, those.Lets get nasty.Extended (suffixed) forms of
demonstrative pronounsThe disparaging meaning of - uSome
examples:A note about the usage of - u:Adverbial Forms of the
Demonstratives:
These are called Demonstrative because they demonstrate
the item being mentioned.
The simple Forms: bu, u, o - this, that, that yonder..
bu kedi - this cat
u fincan - that cup (near to, between us)
o adam - that man over there

The Suffixed Forms of the Demonstratives

The Demonstrative Pronouns and Adjectives - bu - this, u - that,
o- that yonder - use buffer letter -n- to become bun-, sun-, onwhen adding any further suffixes.
bu - this, this here
bunlar - these, these here
bu - this
bunlar - these
buna - to this
bunlara - to these
bunun - of this
bunlarn - of these
bunu - this (object)
bunlar - these (obj.)
bunda - in/on/at this
bunlarda - in/etc these
bundan - from this
bunlardan - from these
bununla - with this
bunlarla - with these
u - that, that there unlar - those, those just there there
u - that
unlar - those
una - to that
unlara - to those
unun - of that
unlarn - of those
unu - that (object)
unlar - those (obj.)
unda - in/on/at that unlarda - on those
undan - from that
unlardan - from those
ununla - with that
unlarla - with those
o - that yonder, that over onlar - those yonder, those over
there
there
o - that yonder
onlar - those yonder
ona - to that
onlara - to those
onun - of that
onlarn - of those

onu - that (object)

onlar - those (obj.)
onda - in/on/at that
onlarda - on those
ondan - from that
onlardan - from those
onunla - with that
onlarla - with those
The Demonstrative Pronouns and Adjectives - this, that,
that yonder - use buffer letter -n- when adding further
suffixes in all cases.

About Turkish demonstrative pronouns and

adjectives
These are called demonstrative adjectives this and that, these
and those and demonstrative pronouns this one and that one,
these ones and those ones because they demonstrate or
describe which item is being talked about.
Turkish has two words for - that, those
bu - this (here) OR this (which was just
bunlar - these
mentioned)
u - that (nearby) OR that (which follows unlar - those
on)
(nearby)
onlar - those (over
o - that (over there, yonder)
there)

Turkish has two words for - that, those.

(1) u - signifies something near by or something between the
speakers. u also means - that which follows - eg. u tavsiye the following recommendation.
(2) o - signifies items far away or which does not lie between the
speakers. o - is often used for descriptions of happenings in
foreign countries and cities.
When adding any suffixes including the plural suffix -lar buffer
letter -n- is always used with the Demonstratives - thus forming
-nlar as the Plural Suffix.

Lets get nasty.

Care must be taken using - u - and its extensions as it is also
used in a derogatory sense (according to context).
u adama bakn! - Look at that bloke!

unu istemedim - I didn't want that! - (damn thing)

u kahrolasca herif kim? - Who is that damn fellow? [quite
strong language]
This is a "frozen form" - kahrolasca - kah olmak - "to be
overwhelmed". The suffixes are made up - ol-a-s-ca where

-as is a now defunct subjunctive ending with an added

-ca suffix indicating "having the attribute of..". However this

word is best learned as a single unit; but really it should not be

used as it is considered rather rude.
You can also say kaholsun! - "Let him be dammed!" It is really
like a swear word in English and not to be taken lightly.. Be careful
in its use!

Extended (suffixed) forms of demonstrative

pronouns
These extended suffixed forms show the use of the buffer -nwhich is always used with the demonstrative. The suffix -ca concerning - is used with the demonstrative pronoun to produce
- bunca - all this, bunlarca - all these, onca - all that,
onlarca - all those. Note that - unca - or - unlarca - are not
normally in use. The addition of -ca produces an adjective which
means - all this/that amount (of). The substantive that it
describes is always in the singular.
Bunca emeim boa gitti. - All this work of mine was in
vain. ("all this amount of my work")
Bunca kitab, kitaplkta dursunlar diye mi aldn? - Did you
buy all these books (just) to fill the bookcase? ("all this
amount of books")
Bunca arkadamn arasndan onu mu beendin? - Between
all these friends of mine, was it (only) him you liked? ("all
this amount of my friends")
Bunca yldr bu okuldaym, byle olay grmedim. - I was at
this school all these years and I have not seen such a thing
(before). ("all these years")
Bunca kediyi nasl besleyeceksin ki? - How do you feed all
thes cats? ("all this amount of cats")
It can be seen that the addition of bunca replaces bu kadar this amount of and onca replaces o kadar- that amount of in
Turkish.

bunu - this
(as an Object of a
verb)
buna - to this
bundan - from
this

The Singular Forms

unu - that
(nearby)
onu - that (yonder)
(as an Object of a
(as an Object of a verb)
verb)
una - to that
ona - to that (yonder)
(nearby)
undan - from that ondan - from that

bunda - in/on this unda - in/on that

bunca - all this

unca - see note

below

undan is not generally

used
onca - all that

The disparaging meaning of - u

Although - unca - or - unlarca - are not normally in use however - it is sometimes used disparagingly. However, in Turkish
it could be used to despise something in quantity or magnitude ,
or someone in muscular power. For instance, if someone has a
small wound due to some reason and complaining too much about
it then you could say - unca/uncacik, yaradan lmezsin You won't die from such a small wound (surely not!)
Thanks to Onur stnel for the notes above. - Jan 2007

The Plural Forms

bunlar - these
unlar - those
(as an Object of a
(as an Object of a
verb)
verb)
bunlara - to these unlara - to those
bunlardan - from
unlardan - from
these
those
bunlarda - in/on
unlarda - in/on
these
those
bunlarca - all these Not used

onlar - those
(as an Object of a
verb)
onlara - to those
onlardan - from
those
onlarda - in/on
those
onlarca - all those

Some examples:
bu ne? - what's this?
Bu bir byk kedi - This is a big cat
Avluda bunca uzun kuyruklu kedi cirit atyorlar. - All these
long tailed cat are running wild in the yard. (cirit atmak -

Literally "to throw a javelin" but used here idiomatically meaning

"run amok, swarm wildly".)

A note about the usage of - u:

u ne? - what is that (just there)?
O bir gazete - that is a newspaper - [u bir gazete - is
incorrect and is not used as a pronoun when answering. It is only
used as an adjective describing - "the newspaper". as shown in
the previous example.] Tm/Btn o gazeteler dnk(dr) All those newspapers are yesterday's.
u ne? - What is that (just there)? The answer - u bir
gazete - That is a newspaper - is incorrect.
The correct answer is - O bir gazete - as the answer to the
question u ne?. Because after you ask the question - u ne? the person being asks now knows where and what the subject
actually is, therefore the answer must be something like - O bir
gazete. As a phrase in its own right you can say such as - u bir
gazete - That (just there) is a newspaper - but not as an
answer to a question like - u ne? - What's that?
For example: There are some of your friends in your home and a
newspaper (gazete) on the desk in this case,there are two
possibilities:
If you are asked - u masann stndeki nedir? - What is it on
that table? - then you must answer it like - O bir gazete or just gazete - not - u bir gazete
If you want them to know that there is a newspaper, then you
must say - u bir gazete - and here if they want to ask you
where it is they must ask it like - Nerede o gazete? - not Nerede u gazete?
Summary:
Question: u ne? - What is that? - Answer: O bir gazete. - That
is a newspaper.
u bir gazete - Cannot be a question, but if it causes a question
like - Where is that newspaper? - then it must be: Nerede o
gazete? - NOT - Nerede u gazete?
Thanks to Emrah Ayar for explanations about the usage of - u - JG - Jan
2007

Further Examples:
o ne? - what is that over there? - o bir dergi - that is a
magazine
Bunca dergiyi nereye koyacaksn? - Where are you going to
put all these are magazines? ["Bunlarca dergi" - is not
generally used in modern Turkish]
bunlar ne? - what are these? - bunlar yeil elma. - these
(ones) are green apples.
unlar ne? - what are those? - onlar beyaz ev. - those are
white houses. - [See note on usage of - u - in questions in the
last section above.]
onlar kim? - who are those (people) over there? - onlar
gen kzlar. - those (people) are young girls.
Yarn onca gen kz Aye'nin partiye gidiyorm. - All those
girls are going to Aye's party tomorrow. (all that amount of
girls)
Should we use Onlarca kiz or Onca kiz? If you say: onlarca kiz we understand there are some girls but they are in some
groups and each group (has say) 10 girls.
buna bakar msnz? - would you look at (to) this? - [Used as
the object of - "to look"]
bunlara bakar msnz? - would you look at (to) these? [Used as an objective pronoun]
ona bakar msnz? - would you look at that?
onlara bakar msnz? - would you look at those?
Thanks to Nurcan Akaltun ifti for corrections to the above section - JG May 2008.

Adverbial Forms of the Demonstratives:

There are further derivations of - bu, u, o - which have produced
the words - byle, yle, yle - the meanings are a follows:
byle - In this way/thus - Onu byle yaptm - I did it like this
- [byle is usually uses with the First Person Pronoun]
yle - like that/in that manner - Onu yle yapn! - Do it
like that! - [yle is usually uses with the inperative]
yle - such as that/like that - Onu yle yapt - He did it like
that! - [past tense is more distant, hence yle is used]
The -ce suffix can also be added to form adverbs:
bylece - In this way/thus
ylece is not really used much

ylece - such as that/like that

The -ce siffix give a sense of completion - bylece i
tamamland - and so the job was done thus
Some Examples:
Byle bir i yapmayn! - Don't do anything like (this) that!
[in Turkish Bu and byle are used regarding a specific action,
such as "jumping on the bed", wheras English uses the the word
"That!" as opposed to "This!" for emphasis.] - Bylece onu
yapn! - Do it this way
yle byle - just so-so - [Lit: like that, like this] - [as French "comme ci comme ca"] - When asked How are you? - then yle
byle can be given as an answer - "So so, I'm up and down,
I'm getting on OK"
yle bir saanak yamur yad ki - There was such a
downpour that..
The "Formula Speak" - yle mi? - is also used a lot when listening
with apparent disbelief to some one describing events. It means
something like - Well I never, Go on then, Really? - This
formula is used a lot in normal daily conversation.